Letter to the editor

Current results on the biological and pharmacological activities of Indole-3-carbinol

Jae Kwang Kim1, Sang Un Park2[*]

1Division of Life Sciences and Convergence Research Center for Insect Vectors, Incheon National University, Incheon 22012, Korea

2Department of Crop Science, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34134, Korea

EXCLI J 2018;17:Doc181

 



Dear Editor,

Indole-3-carbinol (I3C; C9H9NO) is a phytochemical that is derived from the breakdown of the glucosinolate, glucobrassicin. I3C is present at relatively high levels in most cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, collard greens, and kale (Fujioka et al., 2016[14]; Licznerska and Baer-Dubowska, 2016[22]). The enzyme, myrosinase (β-thioglucosidase), catalyzes the hydrolysis of glucosinolates in intact plant cells (Zhao et al., 2015[37]). After chopping or chewing of raw cruciferous vegetables, the plant cells are damaged and glucobrassicin is exposed to myrosinase. This catalyzes the conversion of glucobrassicin to a glucose molecule and an unstable aglycone, which is hydrolyzed to thiohydroximate-O-sulfonate (de Vos et al., 2008[9]). If the sulfate ion is released spontaneously, this may form another unstable intermediate, 3-indolylmethylisothiocyanate. This released compound readily converts to a thiocyanate ion and I3C (Kim et al., 2008[20]).

I3C has recently become available as a nutritional supplement and it provides an attractive natural product for drug development in the pharmaceutical industry. It has been reported to show diverse promising biological properties, with anti-atherogenic, antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-inflammatory activities (Fuentes et al., 2015[13]; Maruthanila et al., 2014[25]). I3C has attracted considerable attention in recent years within the pharmaceutical and functional food industries. Here, we summarize recent studies performed to evaluate the biological and pharmacological activities of I3C (Table 1(Tab. 1); References in Table 1: Mohammadi et al., 2017[27]; Ampofo et al., 2017[1]; Hammerschmidt-Kamper et al., 2017[16]; Safa et al., 2017[31]; Kabel et al., 2017[19]; Sherer et al., 2017[33]; Gehrcke et al., 2017[15]; Quirit et al., 2017[30]; Fletcher et al., 2017[12]; Julliard et al., 2017[18]; Kundu et al., 2017[21]; Wang et al., 2016[35]; Megna et al., 2016[26]; El-Naga and Mahran, 2016[10]; Enríquez et al., 2016[11]; Poindexter et al., 2016[29]; Song et al., 2015[34]; Lin et al., 2015[23]; Busbee et al., 2015[4]; Safa et al., 2015[32]; Wang et al., 2015[36]; Caruso et al., 2014[6]; Perez-Chacon et al., 2014[28]; Aronchik et al., 2014[2]; Chen et al., 2014[7]; Choi et al., 2014[8]; Mao et al., 2014[24]; Jayakumar et al., 2014[17]; Brandt et al., 2014[3]; Busbee et al., 2014[5]).

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Golden Seed Project (213006051WTE11) funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), Rural Development Administration (RDA) and Korea Forest Service (KFS), Republic of Korea.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

 

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15. Gehrcke M, Giuliani LM, Ferreira LM, Barbieri AV, Sari MH, da Silveira EF, et al. Enhanced photostability, radical scavenging and antitumor activity of indole-3-carbinol-loaded rose hip oil nanocapsules. Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2017;74:279-86.
16. Hammerschmidt-Kamper C, Biljes D, Merches K, Steiner I, Daldrup T, Bol-Schoenmakers M, et al. Indole-3-carbinol, a plant nutrient and AhR-Ligand precursor, supports oral tolerance against OVA and improves peanut allergy symptoms in mice. PLoS One. 2017;12(6):e0180321.
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21. Kundu A, Quirit JG, Khouri MG, Firestone GL. Inhibition of oncogenic BRAF activity by indole-3-carbinol disrupts microphthalmia-associated transcription factor expression and arrests melanoma cell proliferation. Mol Carcinog. 2017;56:49-61.
22. Licznerska B, Baer-Dubowska W. Indole-3-carbinol and its role in chronic diseases. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2016;928:131-54.
23. Lin H, Gao X, Chen G, Sun J, Chu J, Jing K, et al. Indole-3-carbinol as inhibitors of glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis in osteoblastic cells through blocking ROS-mediated Nrf2 pathway. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2015;460:422-7.
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27. Mohammadi S, Seyedhosseini FS, Behnampour N, Yazdani Y. Indole-3-carbinol induces G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis through aryl hydrocarbon receptor in THP-1 monocytic cell line. J Recept Signal Transduct Res. 2017;37:506-14.
28. Perez-Chacon G, de Los Rios C, Zapata JM. Indole-3-carbinol induces cMYC and IAP-family downmodulation and promotes apoptosis of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive but not of EBV-negative Burkitt's lymphoma cell lines. Pharmacol Res. 2014;89:46-56.
29. Poindexter KM, Matthew S, Aronchik I, Firestone GL. Cooperative antiproliferative signaling by aspirin and indole-3-carbinol targets microphthalmia-associated transcription factor gene expression and promoter activity in human melanoma cells. Cell Biol Toxicol. 2016;32:103-19.
30. Quirit JG, Lavrenov SN, Poindexter K, Xu J, Kyauk C, Durkin KA, et al. Indole-3-carbinol (I3C) analogues are potent small molecule inhibitors of NEDD4-1 ubiquitin ligase activity that disrupt proliferation of human melanoma cells. Biochem Pharmacol. 2017;127:13-27.
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32. Safa M, Tavasoli B, Manafi R, Kiani F, Kashiri M, Ebrahimi S, et al. Indole-3-carbinol suppresses NF-κB activity and stimulates the p53 pathway in pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells. Tumour Biol. 2015;36:3919-30.
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37. Zhao Y, Wang J, Liu Y, Miao H, Cai C, Shao Z, et al. Classic myrosinase-dependent degradation of indole glucosinolate attenuates fumonisin B1-induced programmed cell death in Arabidopsis. Plant J. 2015;81:920-33.
 
 
 

Table 1: Recent studies on the biological and pharmacological activities of Indole-3-carbinol

[*] Corresponding Author:

Sang Un Park, Department of Crop Science, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34134, Korea; Tel.: +82-42-821-5730, Fax: +82-42-822-2631, eMail: supark@cnu.ac.kr